Maria Merian’s Butterflies

Delightful exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery of work by the natural scientist and artist Maria Merian.

This exhibition told the story of Merian’s life well illustrating it with her work. Her step father was a still life artist who taught her. After a failed marriage she moved to Amsterdam with her daughters where she became interested in insects being brought back form the Dutch colony of Suriname. This inspired her to travel there and study the insects and plants in situ. The result of which was an amazing book of pictures and descriptions.

The pictures were lovely delicate watercolours. She made a point of painting the insects a life sized and to depict them on the correct plants. She also painted different phases of an insect’s development in one picture for example showing the caterpillar, pupa and the butterfly they become.

There was a nice section on her legacy talking about the pictures have been used by scientists and designers.

Closes on 9 October 2016.

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